Hey I'm Georgia, the same person who asked you the question about Hester from The Book of Days on your website, but in case you didn't get that, I'll ask you here: What happened to Hester at the end? Did she die or not, cause she got stabbed before. How would she be healed? Please answer me no others authors except Lauren Oliver have replied to my messages
Hiya Georgia!
Sorry it took so long to get back to you... thank goodness my work computer remembered my password. :P
Hester is - unfortunately - definitely very much dead. But she’s happy she went out helping her friends and on a quest to find her brother. Of course, since The City of Lost Things is currently chucking out some of its inhabitants, who knows if she’ll remain that way for long...
I don't think I've quite got a hang of this tumblr lark. Oh, I can figure out how to post, but how often to post seems to have gone over my head. (This is definitely not a blatant attempt to excuse my two month long absence.)
Anyway, I just got a lovely email from Maddie, who is a young writer I've had the pleasure of meeting a few times now. With her permission, I'm going to post an abbreviated version and my response here, because I think she brings up some great issues that we often face as writers:
Hi Kirilee,
I am currently editing my book, and I was wondering if you ever doubt yourself as a writer? I, personally, read a lot of books and am always amazed at published authors' writing styles, and then look at mine and don't think what I am writing is very good. How do you overcome this doubt?
Also, was it difficult for you to find a publisher, and is it expensive to get it published?
It was great meeting you!
~Maddie
Hi Maddie,
First off, congratulations on finishing [Maddie's manuscript]! That's such a fantastic achievement at any age, but particularly impressive since you're so young. I know how much time you would have put in to get this far... not to mention your nerve, imagination, soul, and probably a little bit of sanity.
I wish I could tell you that the way ahead is a yellow-brick road of self-assurance and no setbacks. But that wouldn't be the truth. I doubt myself every day as a writer. But the cool thing is we all do. Now, that doesn't seem so cool except when you realise that because everyone is going through it, we all understand each other and create a wonderful security network for each other. I can go to a writing friend, "Ugh, I just wrote the crappiest scene. The pacing was off, the characters decided they wanted to speak in Shakespearean English, and a ninja randomly showed up", and they'll be there with reassurance and possibly even the opinion that the ninja just might make the scene better.
The only thing I can say to you about doubt is two-fold and kind of contradictory: kick doubt in the mouth and tell it to shove off... but use it as well. Doubt is like that feeling you get when you're in a parking garage and it's late at night and the lights are flickering - probably useless because you'll get to your car fine and laugh at yourself for panicking, but occasionally useful. Sometimes doubt has a seed of truth. If your doubt tells you that a scene sucks, maybe it does need to be rewritten. Maybe a character isn't working. The trick is to figure out which is the useful doubt and which is the completely unfounded doubt. I haven't quite figured that out yet, but it'll be a part of your writing journey.
So write, write, write! You're young and you've got so much awesome work in you. You just need to keep practicing and something wonderful will come out. It might be this year or it might be in a decade, but I have no doubt that you've got great stories to tell.
With regards to publishing, I was lucky with getting Book of Days published. I entered the John Marsden Prize for Young Australian Writers with my first chapter and was lucky enough to win in the Short Story 18-24 category. John Marsden then said he'd like to recommend me to his publisher and I was able to sneak in the publishing door that way. It might actually be a good idea for you to enter this competition - there's an under-18 category for poetry and short story and an 18-24 category. Definitely enter as many competitions as you can. They're a great way to get your name out and you could get the attention of a publisher like I did.
We're lucky in Australia when it comes to publishing. We're one of the only countries where you're able to submit your book without going through an agent first. In the US and Britain, you have to send your book to an agent and then, if they like it, they agree to take you on and send your book out for you. So you could be sending your manuscript out to agents for years before it even sees any publishers! But here in Australia you can submit straight to a publisher, and though they may take a couple of months, they will look at it. Pan Macmillan has a thing called Manuscript Mondays, where you can submit an unsolicited manuscript to them on Monday and they'll take a look at it.
One main thing, though... NEVER EVER EVER work with a publisher who wants money from you! If you're going the traditional publishing route, money should be going to the author. So I signed a contract with Pan Macmillan where they agreed to pay me a certain amount for my book and then, when I'd sold enough to earn out that amount, they would pay me a certain percentage for each book sold. Self-publishing is a little different - you pay for services related to making your book ready for publishing (getting someone to design a good cover, editing, maybe some marketing), but then you end up getting everything that the book makes. But there are some unscrupulous publishing companies who sell you a "package" for $500 or $1000 and then do the absolutely minimum amount to promote and edit your book. These companies are sharks and I wish all of them would burn in book publishing hell.
So best of luck on your writing journey. It only gets better from here.
Cheers,
Kirilee
Well, it's been over a month since The Book of Days came out and things have been surprisingly normal at Casa Kirilee.
In the absence of a post with actual substance, I just wanted to write a note to let people know of the little giveaway that I'm running with the help of Goodreads.
I'm giving away 3 copies of The Book of Days to hopefully spread a little joy and give a hip-hip-huzzah to the steampunk community. Click the linky above if you're Australian and would like to win a free book. And frankly, who wouldn't.
I really want to read your book, but I cannot seem to get it here? I live in Canada and was wondering when it would be released?
Hi! I'm sorry I'm so late to respond. And I wish I could give you a more definitive answer. I'm not sure if and when The Book of Days will be released outside of Australia - that's all down to a super secret formula that only my publisher understands. But if you want to send your address to k.a.barkerwrites [at] gmail.com, I'll send you one of my author copies. :)
"Ow, my heart": Or, reviews and how to respond to them.
The correct answer is don't. Just don't.
Of course, we rarely follow our own advice...
So I got a pretty brutal review today. As I was reading it, I could feel sections of my heart peeling away and falling into my chest cavity like particularly macabre flower petals. It was short, it was sharp, it was really really negative. And it got me thinking about how to deal with it as a writer and a human being.
First off, cards on the table. This was a professional review published in a large newspaper, which is the only reason I feel comfortable even mentioning it. As far as I'm concerned, if your piece is published (yes, just like me) you're fair game. As it is, I won't mention any details about it (though you don't have to dig very far to find it).
Now I'm of the firm belief that reviews aren't for writers. They're most often written by incredibly passionate readers who are only wanting to inform other incredibly passionate readers about books they may or may not enjoy. The majority of them are respectful, well-written, and genuinely informative. The reviewers aren't trying to hurt writers or judge them as people: they're taking a product and judging it on its own particular merits. Some reviews, yes, are personal, but they are way in the minority and usually frowned on by the reviewing community.
So how do we - as writers - respond to them? By keeping our big fat gobs shut, that's how. Authors are in a position of power. We have fans and money and respect (okay, that's definitely a nebulous we. Me? Not so much). So when we respond to a review we're effectively becoming bullies by challenging a person with lesser power. I've seen reviewers unfairly dog-piled by authors' fans. I've seen reviewers trolled by authors' publicists/editors/wives. I've seen reviewers run off the internet (or at least a username). Luckily, this behaviour is rarely tolerated, but even if the reviewing community rightly rallies behind the reviewer, it doesn't take into account how that reviewer feels after being bullied for simply having an opinion.Â
YOU SHOULD NEVER FEEL BAD FOR HAVING AN OPINION. I love that the online book reviewing community is such a safe space for all kinds of different beliefs and ideas. So that's why I cringe every time someone comes along and undermines it by treating a reviewer like dirt for not liking a book.
You know what? I have an opinion. My opinion is that the review hurt and made me feel really crappy. So I said that on twitter and some truly lovely people made me feel better. That's how people are. We don't generally like it when other people are hurting.
But also? That doesn't make the reviewer's opinion any less valid. In their eyes, my book is an over-described, annoying mess. And that's okay.
I hate to be blase, but sometimes I think we'd avoid these problems if we just realised that there is a face behind the name/avatar/username. NO ONE deserves to be bullied: especially for a creative and personal endeavour like a review or a book.
So authors, please don't comment on negative reviews. It's not worth it. It really isn't. At the very least you're going to come across as kind of entitled and douchey, and at the worst you're going to turn your readers against you.
And reviewers, keep doing what you're doing! We really appreciate you taking the time to read our books... even if you don't like them. Just maybe (and I'm speaking to like the 0.5% who do this) make sure you're reviewing the work and not the author themselves.
So I'll sign out with the immortal words of Bill and Ted:
+50 points for Extra Reading
The Guardian's blog about an author behaving badly
Cuddlebuggery's excellent piece on writing negative reviews
Not so much about responding to reviews, but a great post on being in the public eye that got me thinking about what we should and should not say as authors.
You know that moment when you’re reading a book and you just have to stop and bite your lip and squeal or sigh or close your eyes and wrinkle your nose and forehead and press the book against your heart and just like sit there and try to soak up the gorgeous literature via osmosis?
Start telling the stories that only you can tell, because there’ll always be better writers than you and there’ll always be smarter writers than you. There will always be people who are much better at doing this or doing that – but you are the only you.
